When we built our first house, we had walk-in closets in every bedroom, with plenty of built-in drawer and hanging space, thus eliminating the need for dressers. A few years down the road, that is no longer the case, so I found myself needing to find dressers for every one of our bedrooms before we moved…

The last picnic table we had cost $10. We had just moved into our first house, and I was at the township office working in paperwork, when I saw a pile of picnic tables outside. They happened to be old tables from the parks in our township, and they were selling them cheap to make room for brand new tables. I dug through the stack and chose the best of the bunch, and after refinishing it several times over the years, it lasted us until we made this last move.

I had plans to make another one this spring, and then my cute hubby surprised me by making one when I was out-of-town a couple months ago. We’ve always use our picnic table a lot, and with the good weather finally making an appearance here in upstate NY, so I was very happy! I had to wait about 6 weeks for the pretreated lumber to finally dry out in order to finish it, but it’s finally down, and I love it!

So, I planked my piano. YES, I did! I have been wanting to paint my piano for a very long time. Years, in fact. I don’t know why I’ve hesitated, because normally I paint anything and everything I can get my hands on. I think a lot of it is due to the fact that the last couple of years we have been moving around a lot–three states in a two and a half years–and now that our new house will be finished in a few months, our temporary living situation will cease. Hallelujah! I haven’t been able to really do any projects or decorating for years, and I’m more than ready to start digging into my mile-long list so they’ll be ready when we move in.

Project #1? The piano. It’s one of the few things we kept out of storage. We might be sleeping on futons, and we don’t have a real kitchen table, but we have a piano! As a pianist, it was never really a question if it was coming with us or not, and now that my kids are playing too, we found the space. It’s actually the piano I learned to play on, and it has a lot of sentimental value. It just needed major makeover–mostly because it just wasn’t my style, and the wood was an orange-y color that didn’t go with anything. So I decided to go all in–not just paint, but a update it with whole new look that would match our new farmhouse-style home. When I think farmhouse, I think of planked wood. I’m kind of obsessed. But really, how much more perfect can you get? So, yes, I planked my piano. And I LOVE it.

Oh my goodness, the snow. And the salt. And the wet. And the mud. All of which I do not want brought into my house this winter! With no mudroom in our little apartment, I decided that we needed a shoe shelf just outside our front door, so all boots could be deposited there before coming inside. I had just been sent a Rockwell Bladerunner X2 Portable Tabletop Saw to try, and knew it would be the perfect first project!

This post is sponsored by the Glidden brand paint for PPG, but all opinions are 100% mine.

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I am in love.

I’m so happy I went with the red! (Glidden’s Red Delicious…Read more about my decision.) That pop of color makes such a huge difference in my kitchen, and I can’t stop staring at it. I love how it completely changes the look of the room, and the whole space (it’s connected to the dining and family rooms). Being in a rental can be frustrating when you can’t paint walls, but freshening, brightening, and adding pops of color with paint isn’t off limits!

This post is sponsored by the Glidden brand paint for PPG, but all opinions are 100% mine.

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We moved to New York from Texas just a little over two months ago, and since we were planning to build a home, we moved into a rental duplex and put pretty much everything we owned into storage. Even though we aren’t going to be here too long, I kept out a few things to decorate with, and to make it feel like home. Sometimes it’s hard living in a rental, when you can’t make any changes, or paint any walls, and even if you could, spending money on something temporary isn’t what you want to do. I feel that way about my kitchen. It isn’t bad…just really white. Everything. The cabinets, floor, and appliances are all very white. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love the clean, crisp feeling of white, but with no contrast, it’s just too stark.

The good thing is, there’s a way to brighten up any space with paint, even if it’s not on the walls! Painting a piece of furniture adds a pop of color and even a focal point to any room. I have decided to makeover the stools (also white) in my kitchen, and give them a pop of color. Once we move, I’ll still be able to use them in our new home, so it won’t be waste of time or money to re-do them.

Project decided…now what color? What a dilemma! Thankfully, there are some really awesome resources out there to help me (and you!) choose the perfect color. Glidden has Color Palette pages that make the color selection process so much easier!

Then there’s Color 101 at My Colortopia. There’s a whole team that’s there to help you figure out exactly what you want, and what will look best in your home. I LOVE that. You know you want gray, but what color gray? There are just too many to choose from, and it can seem overwhelming when you’re trying to decide. Or maybe you aren’t sure which color, and you’re looking for inspiration? Either way, they can help.

For me, I was torn between two different colors. I’m a red girl, through and through, and always have been. Have you ever taken the Color Code Personality Test? Yep, I’m a red. I have loved red for as long as I can remember, and have always used it in my home. My kitchen has some red accents in it already, and it’s a great color that immediately adds a punch. But…I love gray too, and thought maybe a color, but not too much color might be better. I went back and forth. And back and forth. And back and forth. I used both the Color Palette and Color 101 to help me come up with my favorite shades of both red and gray, and they were incredibly helpful as I pinpointed which ones I would use…if I could decide.

A couple of years ago I was looking for a cute little play kitchen table in our playroom, and realized that I had just the thing…an old end table that we weren’t using anymore was just sitting gathering dust, and needed to be put to good use. So, I sprayed it white, and called it good. Fast forward those couple of years, and this poor table had been through the wringer. It desperately needed a fresh coat of paint, and a little pep put back into it. I’m also finally starting to decorate the playroom, so this would be one of the first projects to get me up and running. I LOVE how it turned out!

I’m kind of obsessed with barn doors. Actually…I want my own barn. ☺ That’s going to have to wait though, since I’m a farmhouse girl living in the city, so I make due with cute barn doors scattered throughout my house. I’ve wanted to make a sliding barn door FOREVER. When we did the “great room switch” a couple of months ago, my girls moved to into what had been the office. The doors were glass french doors, so they needed to be switched out, and a sliding barn door was exactly what was needed.

Baby Caroline started crawling a couple of months ago–much earlier than I expected her to. It’s so funny–with my first baby, I couldn’t wait for him to crawl and walk, but by now I realize that mobility comes at a price. :) We have stairs in our house, right in the kitchen area, and where we spend the majority of our time. At the bottom of the stairs is tile, and if she fell, it would really not be good. I want her to learn how to do stairs–I think it’s important-but only if I’m right behind her to catch her. So…it was time for a baby gate, and what could be cuter than one made from a barn door?

Even though it’s been around for a long time, chalk paint has especially been a trend for the past couple of years, and has been gaining in popularity around the blogosphere. As someone who paints a lot of furniture, I’d wanted to try it for a long time, but really wanted to wait for the perfect project to come along first. Finally, I found THE project. Eight kitchen stools that belonged to our old dining table–the one before the lovely farmhouse table we use now–that I really wanted to use around our big island were just begging to be refinished. Six of them would fit…perfect for our kids!

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2 thoughts on “furniture”

I saw on pinterest where you transferred printed letters on to a piece of wood. You were using a paintbrush. I cannot find the directions on your website for this. Can you lead me in the right direction? Thank you. You are a very talented individual. I love looking at and using your ideas.
Penny

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Hello, I'm Kierste! I'm mama to six darlings (including two sets of twins), and married to an awesome guy. I'm addicted to cardigans, all things lemon, and polka dots! We just built a farmhouse on nine wooded acres in upstate New York, called Old Salt Farm. This is our homemade life.

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